The present invention relates to door alarms, and, in particular to a door alarm which will notify personnel, for example, of a psychiatric hospital, that a patient is attempting to commit suicide.
It is not uncommon for patients in, for example, psychiatric hospitals, to attempt to commit suicide. In order to prevent patients from committing suicide, patient rooms are cleared of most things with which patients can commit suicide. For example, patients do not wear belts. One way in which patients do attempt to commit suicide is to tie a knot in the end of a bed sheet, drape the bed sheet over the top of a door (either the door to the patient's room or the bathroom door in the patient's room), and close the door. The knot on the end of the door will prevent the sheet from sliding through the closed door, and the patient can then hang him or herself with the sheet.
Currently, there is no known device that is available to notify hospital personnel when patient is attempting to commit suicide by hanging.